Content Warning: Mentions of Child Abuse
Leveraging GeoGuard, Child Rescue Coalition finds online predators use anonymizers to exchange CSAM
June 27, 2023 (Toronto, ON) — Leading fraud and risk solutions provider GeoComply Solutions Inc. (GeoComply) and non-profit Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) have released new findings from a joint case study on anonymizing tools used by child sexual abuse material (CSAM) offenders.
Child Rescue Coalition collect and index 30 to 50 million reports of online users trading child sexual abuse material every day.
GeoComply is a global market leader in geolocation security, specializing in the detection of location fraud tools and typologies, including the detection of virtual private networks (VPNs), proxies, and other methods through GeoGuard, an IP spoofing solution.
In a joint effort, GeoComply analyzed one month of scrubbed/anonymized CRC data to understand the proportion and nature of anonymizing tools CSAM offenders are using to commit crimes and obfuscate law enforcement.
The findings of the data analysis concluded:
- As many as one in six offenders monitored by CRC was found by GeoComply to be anonymized by a VPN, proxy, data center or other
- One VPN provider accounted for approximately one-third of all IP addresses attributed to a known provider
These are first-time insights into the nature of anonymization by CSAM offenders. To learn more about the details of our findings, please visit this link.
GeoComply Co-Founder and CEO Anna Sainsbury shared, “We’ve known for a long time that online criminals exploit anonymizing tools to commit their crimes. We’re very pleased to share the findings from our conducted research, which importantly is now in the public domain for the first time, highlighting our understanding of how predators operate.”
Sainsbury continued, “Our findings suggest that by permitting users to upload content while hiding behind VPNs, some media sharing platforms may be enabling the distribution of harmful content involving minors. We’re so grateful to partner with CRC and hope this work helps law enforcement, policymakers, civil society and industry to take action to protect children.”
Carly Yoost, CEO and Founder of Child Rescue Coalition commented, “Child Rescue Coalition collaborates with a global force of child exploitation investigators, police officers, digital forensic experts, proactive corporate partners, and donors to rescue children and apprehend abusers in real-time around the world. Together, through our partnership with GeoComply, we are showcasing this never-before-seen data. We are excited to see the data from our technology leveraged to find more information that will help us understand the behaviors of child predators worldwide.”
Today’s announcement underscores GeoComply and Child Rescue Coalitions’ mutual commitment to advancing child safety.
Anna Sainsbury will be addressing these findings on the Main Stage at Collision today, June 27th, 2023, on the topic of “Securing against emerging fraud trends” at 14:20, with Jeff Shiner, CEO of 1Password, and Sam Sabin, Cybersecurity Reporter at Axios.
About GeoComply
GeoComply provides fraud prevention and cybersecurity solutions that detect location fraud and help verify a user’s true digital identity. Trusted by leading brands and regulators for the past 10 years, the company’s geolocation solutions are installed on over 400 million devices and analyze over a billion transactions every month.
Our award-winning products are based on the technologies developed for the highly regulated and complex US online gaming and sports betting market. Beyond iGaming, GeoComply provides geolocation fraud detection solutions for streaming video broadcasters and the online banking, payments and cryptocurrency industries, building an impressive list of customers, including Akamai, Amazon Prime Video, BBC, BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Sightline.
For more information, visit our Awards and Press page or contact: press@geocomply.com.
© 2023 GeoComply Solutions Inc. GEOCOMPLY and the GeoComply logo are trademarks of GeoComply Solutions Inc. Other names or logos mentioned herein may be the trademarks of GeoComply or their respective owners. The absence of the symbols ™️ and ® in proximity to each trademark, or at all, herein is not a disclaimer of ownership of the related trademark. All rights reserved.
About Child Rescue Coalition
Child Rescue Coalition (CRC) is a nonprofit organization that rescues children from sexual abuse by building technology for law enforcement, free of charge, to identify, arrest and prosecute child predators. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, CRC developed powerful technology, which has been a significant tool for law enforcement agencies around the globe. Law enforcement officers in all 50 U.S. states and in 98 countries around the globe have been trained to use CRC Technology to target and apprehend predators who are most likely to sexually abuse children. Through proactive partnerships with law enforcement, CRC tools have aided in the arrest of over 14,000 predators and the rescue of over 3,300 children from sexual exploitation and abuse.
CRC technology has improved the success rates of investigators and policing operations in the ongoing pursuit to identify, apprehend and convict individuals and networks associated with child sexual exploitation.
For more information about Child Rescue Coalition, please visit: https://childrescuecoalition.org
